London for ever- 4

London is a word of six letters. But how many Londons do exist?
Each one of us has got its own London on his heart.
Still there is a London of great Hotels, made of excellent shopping, top of reastaurants and parties on old mansions, full of glory and history though I might suppose not all the hosts would understand where they are really celebreting their or someone's top life.
There is a London of young hostels, very crowded, full of emotions, of expectations, full of love.
There is a London in front of  following pints of tasteful lagers wherein to forget the sorrows of life.
And the London of busy people in search of honest and rich profits, in the city or in the west; and also the London of dirty profits, lascars and moneypickers, thieves and scroungers.
Whatelse you can add, and there is surely a lot to add, all these palpitateing souls are accommodated in the same large sorroundigs we use to call London.
And London is for ever.
4. bo be continued...

7 Activities to Help Kids Understand Passover

Passover can be a difficult holiday for children to understand. The Seder (traditional Passover meal) can be long, and children don’t often understand why certain foods (leavened foods) are prohibited during the holiday. Here are a few activities to keep your children as involved as possible during Passover and the Seder.

1. Create a Haggadah – Have your child draw pictures of the different aspects of Passover. They can draw themselves reading the 4 Questions, create a picture of the Seder plate and illustrate looking for the Afikomen. Put them in order together and bind with rings or string. Kids can use their own Haggadah at the Seder to help them be involved on a level that they understand.
2. Create a Seder plate together – Have your children help arrange the Seder plate with you, explaining what each item represents. You can also print off a child-friendly Seder plate here. Kids can color in the Seder plate while the family is sitting around the table.
3. Talk about the Seder – Talk with your kids about the Seder, which is typically held on the first night of Passover. Discuss how the Israelites were redeemed from slavery and given the gift of the Torah and explain why the symbolic foods are out on the Seder plate.
4. Read the 4 Questions together – It’s tradition that the youngest child reads the 4 Questions at the Seder, starting with the first, “Why is this night different from all other nights?” Reading them together, in English and in Hebrew, will familiarize your children with the questions and the answers that will be asked at the Seder. Helping your child understand before the Seder will prepare them to be active in the Seder.
5. Read or tell the Passover story to your children – Reading or telling the story will help familiarize your children with the reasons that Passover is celebrated. The Israelites left Egypt quickly and there was no time for bread to rise, which is why eating matzah (unleavened bread) represents the time when people were forced quickly out of their homes. Passover also reflects a time for cleaning to rid houses of hametz (anything leavened).
6. Discuss the plagues – The 10 plagues are an important part of the Passover story and you should discuss them with your children, taking time to explain their importance. You can have your children act out the story or draw pictures of the plagues to add to their Haggadah.
7. Afikomen – The afikomen (or half of a piece of matzah) is hidden by the head of the household, and when it’s time for dessert it’s tradition that the children hunt for the afikomen and return it in exchange for money or a small prize. The afikomen helps children stay involved (and awake!) during the meal, knowing that their part in finding the afikomen is coming soon and that there is a reward for it once found – a prize and dessert!
8. Children don’t have to be bored during the Seder, but to ensure that they aren’t it’s important to be prepared with activities for them so they can participate during the meal. Have your children help prepare the house, the table and the food for Passover. Encourage them to use this time to ask questions and make statements about their Jewish heritage. This can be a wonderful learning experience for everyone involved!

 This post was proposed to me for publication by Sarah Tucker. If you want to know more about it please go to the link belowed:

http://www.4nannies.com/blog/7-activities-to-help-kids-understand-passover/
This post 

7 Holiday Traditions to Start with Your Family

Some families have holiday traditions that go back generations.  Other families don’t really have any traditions at all.  Regardless of which camp you fall into, why not create a few new holiday traditions this Christmas season?  Traditions give everyone something special to look forward to year after year.  If you are at a loss as to what kind of things you can do to start a tradition, check out this list.

1. Look at the lights.  Magical twinkling lights are all around in the weeks leading up to Christmas.  Pick a night to take the whole family on a drive around the neighborhood or a drive through one of those huge displays that you pay by the car load.  You might want to bring along some popcorn and hot chocolate to enjoy during your drive.
2. Serve dinner at a soup kitchen.  Check with your local shelters to find out when they serve dinners and look into if you and your family can take part in helping those less fortunate.  Check early, because sometimes shelters take the first 50 people to help and then turn other volunteers away.  Christmastime is a popular time to help serve at the soup kitchen, and a lot of places will take reservations for volunteers.
3. Go Christmas caroling.  It doesn’t matter if you can carry a tune or not.  Dress warmly and print out the lyrics of some popular Christmas songs, then take a stroll around the neighborhood singing to folks.  This doesn’t happen as regularly as it once did, and people will surely be thrilled to hear a holiday song.  Ask some of your friends to come along if you are shy about your abilities.  There is strength in numbers.
4. Watch a tree lighting.  Most cities have a central square or other location where they have a big Christmas tree lighting ceremony.  Sometimes it’s tied to other winter activities that you might join in on as well.  Check with your city or online to see where the different tree lightings are in your area.
5. Go on a sleigh ride.  If you live in an area where there is no snow then you can look for a carriage ride and go on one of those with your family.  Check the yellow pages in your area and see where you can find a sleigh ride or carriage ride this holiday season.  It’s magical listening to the sleigh bells ring.
6. Invite friends over for Christmas Eve.  Get together with some friends on Christmas Eve and play games or watch a Christmas movie with some popcorn and candy.  Make it a potluck or order Chinese food for something completely different than what everyone will be eating on Christmas day.
7. Bake cookies for the neighbors.  If you love to bake why don’t you and the kids make up a bunch of cookies, candies and bars to take to the neighbors?  People usually like homemade food and will be excited to see someone from the neighborhood bringing them goodies.  You never know, the way to a cranky neighbor’s heart might be through their stomach!

Anything can become a tradition if you make it a point to do it every year.  Bake cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning or mix up a batch of homemade fudge.  You will be amazed how much fun it will be to anticipate these traditions year after year.

 P.S. This post was  proposed to me for publication by Sandra McAubre.  I'm therefore publishing it by her invitation and under her permission. See also the link below fore more information:

http://www.hireananny.org/blog/7-holiday-traditions-to-start-with-your-family/ 

Is the Bedtime Story a Dying Art

Storytelling used to be the only way families could pass on knowledge from generation to generation.  There were no books or computers to keep track of information.  Those born in 2012 are looking at the possible extinction of the paper book in their lifetime.  E-readers are so compact and can hold so much information that they are much easier and more convenient to hold and take along.  Will this change bring back the art of the bedtime story, or further help to get rid of it?

It’s not that children aren’t getting bedtime stories. They are, but they are stories read from a book.  With millions of books available it’s often easier to grab one of those than to come up with you own story.  According to Rick Polito, creator of Shake-N-tell, by reading books to our kids we are showing them how to be consumers and not creators.  Though reading books is very important in helping children learn to read, hearing original stories helps them learn to imagine.

Kids enjoy stories that are about things that have happened in their family.  You could call these stories non-fiction.  Tell your children about adventures you had when you were young.  Let them know how you spent your days.  In the days before computers and massively complicated video games kids actually played outside and made mud pies.  Use your stories as a jumping off point.  If you were once chased by a bumble bee, put yourself in the character of the bumble bee and tell the story from that perspective.

It seems that it’s easier and quicker to just grab a book at bedtime.  Parents are tired and want to sit down, put their feet up and relax a little before going to bed.  Keep in mind that your kids are only young once and if you make up stories for them at bedtime it is likely that they will do the same for their children.

Telling and sharing stories puts a personal spin on them.  There’s something about hearing stories that connects the teller and the listener.  Watch how differently your child looks at you when you read them a story versus when you tell them a story.  There are no pictures to look at because you are creating pictures with your words in their imaginations.  The stories are more interactive because the kids can ask questions about the characters.  When you read a book it’s not really possible to get into the author’s head.  Kids really like being able to find out the “back story” and will be that much more drawn in.  If you can help your kids use their imaginations they will be more prepared for all of the writing they will do in school.  Teachers ask the kids daily, to write a page about … fill in the blank.  If you have laid the ground work with your kids in story telling they will have no trouble writing these stories in school.

Then there are those people that say they can’t come up with their own stories.  They say that they are just not good at it.  You know the saying, “There’s an app for that!”  Well there is and it’s free.  It’s called Shake-N-Tell.  This application helps by providing the bones of a story and lets you use your imagination to embellish the details of the story.  The kids can help tell the story too.  Even if you don’t use it as a bedtime tool it would be a fun way to make a long car ride go by faster.

The creator of this application, Rick Polito, is a newspaper reporter turned stay-at-home dad and it occurred to him after talking with some of his friends that this application might help those people that are tired from a long day and are unable to come up with their own stories.  He wanted to give people the tools to create their own stories and possibly jump start their imaginations and get them to create their own after a while.

Give storytelling a try with your kids tonight and watch their imaginations grow.

 P.S. This post was  proposed to me for publication byCarol Watson. I'm therefore publishing it by her invitation and under her permission. See also the link below fore more information:

 http://www.nationalnannies.com/blog/is-the-bedtime-story-a-dying-art/